


Lend Me an Ear and I'll Lend You a Hand

by hoboshorts



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Disability, M/M, Winterhawk Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 16:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3857761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoboshorts/pseuds/hoboshorts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Winterhawk Week 2014, prompt - disabilities.</p>
<p>Basically what it says on the tin. Slight reference to Hawkeye v. Deadpool comics but nothing you need to read them for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lend Me an Ear and I'll Lend You a Hand

There’s nothing fun about fun-sized candy. For one thing, it meant to get the maximum amount of fun, one had to eat approximately three to five pieces of the candy of their choice. Which would be fine if one had two functioning hands.

 

Bucky Barnes had taken out his fake fangs so he could properly guide the tiny Snickers packet up to his teeth to tear it open. He ended up with little bits of plastic in his mouth that he had to spit out or choke on and then the candy would fall again onto the coffee table and by the fourth time the piece of candy was looking like the dog had gotten at it and it still wasn’t open.

 

Bucky swears, hits his head against the back of the couch a few times and sighs. He reaches over with his right hand, massaging at his shoulder and feeling the edge of the socket where his mechanical arm would be usually. Unfortunately his tech’s very susceptible to electrical damage, which was why going up against a villain named ‘Electro’ was probably not the smartest move he’d ever made.

 

“Need a hand?” a voice asks from his right and Bucky rolls his eyes so hard it’s almost audible.

 

“That wasn’t funny the first twenty times you’ve said it since this morning and it isn’t funny now,” Bucky grumps, swatting at Clint as the man picks up the gnawed-up Snickers package and opens it himself to eat.

 

“I’m gonna assume you just told me how hilarious I am and that my sense of comedic timing is wasted working with you schmucks,” Clint says, sitting across from Bucky. He’s in his costume as well, crinkling all the way with the amount of aluminum foil attached to his body. Bucky doubts the noise bothers Clint much.

 

Bucky responds to the comment by forming a fist and tapping it to the side of his head twice.

 

“Oooh, you signed something dirty. I’m telling Nat on you,” Clint responds, laughingly taking another candy from the bowl between them.

 

“I’m so scared,” Bucky says, managing as best he can to sign with one hand. He’s had to finger spell a lot today since ASL wasn’t as easy with one hand. “Why aren’t you wearing your hearing aids?”

 

“Why aren’t you wearing your arm, Dracula?” Clint says and then sighs, “They didn’t really go with the Ultron costume so I took them out.”

 

Bucky gives Clint a very flat look in response to that. He holds his hand up and tucks his thumb in slightly, then closes his fist to cross his thumb in front of it. _B-S._

 

“I can hear—I mean, it’s not _great_ and I have to read lips but—it’s just a stupid party, nobody’s going to be saying anything important. Nobody I care to listen to anyways,” Clint responds and shrugs, “So what’s the news about your arm, Sarge?”

 

“Stark’s bringing it to the party, says it’ll be finished by then. And you’re deflecting,” Bucky adds.

 

“Ooooh, bringing out the psychoanalysis now, are we? And who exactly was just cussing out candy wrappers for not being user-friendly for the singularly limbed?” Clint asks, very much on the defensive. Which makes sense to Bucky more than it did to anyone else, save perhaps Clint’s brother Barney.

 

“Me. And yeah, I get angry being reminded that I’m different. Doesn’t mean I go without my prosthetic just because I feel like being sore about not having two regular arms,” Bucky reasons.

 

“That’s because you’ve got a cool robot arm. It’s not normal, but it makes your appearance less odd. Especially with the synth-skin over it. In fact, you could even say it makes you normal-er. More normal. Whatever,” Clint reasons and reaches into his back pocket to bring out the small Stark Tech hearing aids. They’re somewhat inconspicuous as hearing aids go, but they have a little light on the back of them where they hook behind the ear. Clint’s also got a small remote he has to clip to his belt to turn them up and down. “These? Make me look and feel like an old man.”

 

“You think so, huh?” Bucky feels his hackles raising up but he’s fighting them down. Clint’s on edge too, he can feel it. And he likes Clint, he likes him a lot. They’re making a go of whatever this is between them and that meant Bucky gets to have the playful carnie-slash-Avenger who’s pretty fantastic in the sack _and_ the mopey middle aged man with emotional wounds a mile wide.

 

They’re still on the down-low about it, but that didn’t mean Bucky’s okay with having fights all the time. Especially about this. About this sore spot they share.

 

“…it doesn’t make me feel normal,” he says, touching his shoulder. “It’s heavy. It hurts and pulls. I have to work out my shoulders constantly to have enough strength to keep it from tearing my muscles. It makes me feel like a freak,” Bucky explains patiently.

 

“But… it also allows me to be something more. To help people,” Bucky says, taking the hearing aids from Clint, “And these? These help you to not be closed off to everyone.”

 

Clint’s eyes are on Bucky’s mouth the whole time, brow furrowing into a tense line as he considers the words. Finally the blonde sighs long and low and signs silently—pointing to himself, making a gesture by putting his thumb and forefingers together on both hands and flicking them outward before pointing at Bucky.

 

Bucky smirks. “Yeah, I hate me too,” he replies and reaches over to help put the hearing aids in Clint’s ears. One and then the other, leaning in close to the other man. Their breaths mingle in the space between and Clint twists around to brush his mouth against Bucky’s jaw, feeling prickles of stubble against his lips.

 

“Stop distracting me. This is hard enough with one hand,” Bucky says, finishing his task and then turning the aids on. He puts his mouth close to Clint’s ear, feeling the warmth of the other man’s blush building there.

 

“There you go,” he whispers and kisses Clint’s ear. The blond shuts his eyes, biting his lip a moment and enjoying the rumble of Bucky’s voice.

 

Clint backs up and touches his fingertips to his mouth, then holds them out towards Bucky. Bucky catches and kisses them in return.

 

“You’re welcome,” he says and leans in again to kiss Clint properly on the mouth. This goes on for several minutes, Bucky’s cape covering them both partially, until Clint starts to laugh underneath him.

 

“I can’t even—why didn’t you tell me I was crinkling that much?” he asks, laughing at the crunch-crunch noise of aluminum foil he could now hear coming from his costume every time he so much as breathed.

 

Bucky’s nose brushes against Clint’s and he laughs, shaking his head. “I told you you should have sprung for the store-bought Ultron costume,” he declares, smirking at his friend-with-benefits-and-baggage.

 

“Ugh, I was not paying $22.99 with tax for what basically amounted to a silver Snuggie with pointed earmuffs,” Clint states, rolling his eyes as he got up from the sofa, wincing at the crinkling noises he makes.

 

“Still got an extra set of fangs if you wanna go as Countess Dracula…” Bucky offers and manages to one-handedly catch the fun-sized candy bar thrown at him.

 

“Bite me,” Clint retorts and hurries out the door before Bucky can actually do so.


End file.
